The US Treasury named digital assets a sanctionable sector of Iran’s economy on Monday. The designation came as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched what he called Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign officials described as an economic D-Day against Tehran.
OFAC issued five sectoral sanctions determinations under Executive Order 13902, covering digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. It also designated close to 60 entities, individuals and vessels tied to Iran’s nuclear and missile procurement, cyber operations and oil revenue networks, suspended several general licenses covering certain remittances and Iranian access to US cultural and academic programs, and issued fresh guidance on shipping risk in the Strait of Hormuz.
Under EO 13902, OFAC can sanction any person or entity that provides significant support to those five sectors. An exchange, payment processor or custodian anywhere in the world that clears a significant transaction for an Iranian digital asset business risks losing access to the dollar system, even where the Iranian counterparty was never individually designated. Bessent said the measures broaden secondary sanctions risk for anyone still conducting business with the regime.
The named designations came with an on-chain footprint. OFAC listed 30 addresses across Bitcoin, Ethereum and TRON belonging to four of the 17 Mabna Institute defendants charged in a Justice Department superseding indictment unsealed Aug. 18. TRM Labs found the addresses had received roughly $16.8 million since January 2018, with ten wallets controlled by defendant Keyvan Fayaz accounting for $15.5 million, or 92% of the volume. The combined residual balance is $202,662, about 1% of what moved through. The Justice Department says the group breached 144 US universities and stole more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property.
Monday’s action extends a pressure campaign that has repeatedly touched crypto. In June, Treasury sanctioned Iran’s largest exchange, Nobitex, along with three other Iranian platforms under the earlier Economic Fury campaign, and Bessent said in May that the US had seized close to $1 billion in Iranian crypto. Treasury has separately pressed Binance on its monitoring obligations after reports of Iran-linked flows through the exchange.
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